passing through Iowa (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo: trip , jobs, housing)

[Is that rain]

Hi, I am driving to Indiana to buy a house, starting my trip from Reno, Nevada.
I intend to take my time along the way, and check out other potential towns
before reaching my destination. I am open to any town, or any state.
I am interested in checking out Cedar Rapids, or perhaps Waterloo.
I have read that there is a very desirable bike trail that runs from Waterloo
to CR, and this is a huge deal to me. What is the town of CR like? My impression
based on nothing in particular is that it is an old town, streets are kind of
busted up, and the housing is old. Is this a fair assessment? Are there
new areas of town? Are the streets in good condition? Is the city clean?
Please give me some insight into the town of CR, thank you.

[angeredsmile]

We used to have friends who lived in Cedar Rapids and our experience there was ok. The streets are a bit rough. My wife said she would never live there because it is to industrial looking. Which I tend to agree but I didn't mind the town to much. My best friend worked for Cedar Graphics in Marion, Iowa which is a suburb.

[Chicago60614]

There are a lot of new areas in Cedar Rapids, the area has grown by 40,000 to 45,000 people since 1990.

I'd check out Des Moines and Iowa City as well (over Cedar Rapids). They're growing much more quickly, and have very robust economies with unemployment rates of around 2-3% Lots of jobs out there...